'Casino Royale' Pays Out on DVD

Sony Pictures Home Entertainment's Casino Royale blasted its way to the top of both the national DVD sales and rental charts the week ended March 18, proving the new look of James Bond is as much a hit in video stores as it was on the big screen.

The actioner, which grossed $167.2 million in theaters, bumped last week's top seller and renter, 20th Century Fox's Borat, to the No. 3 spot on Nielsen VideoScan's First Alert sales chart and No. 2 on Home Media Magazine's video rental chart.

Also new to both charts was another newly released Sony Pictures title, The Holiday, which bowed at No. 2 on First Alert and No. 3 on the rental chart. In the sales arena, Casino Royale outsold The Holiday by a margin of more than 3 to 1. In rental stores, The Holiday generated an estimated $8 million in revenue, to $9.2 million for Casino Royale.

Sales of Borat remained surprisingly strong its sophomore week in stores. The irreverent comedy is now the No. 3 DVD seller of the year, behind Warner's The Departed (No. 1) and Sony Pictures' Open Season (No. 2).

Casino Royale also made a big splash on Blu-ray Disc its first week in stores, outselling its nearest competitor The Departed by a margin of 9 to 1 for the week. After just one week in stores, Casino Royale already is the No. 2 Blu-ray seller since the format's inception last June.